Door check and closer.



No. 782,014. PATENTED FEB. 7, 1905. A. F. ENQUIST.

DOOR CHECK AND CLOSER.

APPLICATION FILED 00115. 1904.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

witnesses Inventor Attorney 3 BHEETSSHEBT 2.

PATENTED FEB. 7, 1905. A. F. ENQUIST. DOOR CHECK AND CLOSER.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 15, 1904.

c b E I ,mm': Q N i Inventor a Li an;

fi /Z4 Attorney Mm; A4

PATENTED FEB. 7, 1905.

A. F. ENQUIST. DOOR CHECK AND CLOSER.

APPLICATION 1 1mm 001215, 1904.

3 SHEETSSHEBT 3.

Inventor UNITED STATES Patented February 7, 1905 PATENT FFICE.

DOOR CHECK AND CLOSER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 782,014, dated February 7, 1905. Application iiIedOetober 15,l904. Serial No. 228,613.

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Be it known that I, AXEL FREDERICK EN- UIs'r, a citizen of the United States, residing at \Yashington, in the District of Columbia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Door Checks and Closers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to door checks and closers, either of the liquid or pneumatic type, wherein the door is closed by the action of a spring and checked in the final act of closing by a pneumatic or hydraulic resistance interposed to retard the action and eliminate the slam. These devices work well in practice; but it is often necessary to set the door open and leave it that way at a greater or less angle against the tension of the powerful closingspring. This object is usually and most conveniently attained by placing a wedge beneath the bottom of the door or a heavy weight against the door at the bottom, and the effect of such expedients is to permanently warp the door out of its true closing plane. the closing strain being located at the top, with a diagonal warping resultant. There are also doorclosers with stop dogs or pawls to restrain the action of the closing-sprin but these simply fix or lock the door in a given position and if the door is run against, as is likely to occur, are liable to derangement or rupture.

My improvement consists in a remedy for these defects by providing in the door-check itself a provision which by a simple action shall release and transfer the tension of the closing strain at the will of the operator, leaving the door to swing free or to stand open in any desired position, butwhieh closing strain shall be resumable at pleasure by a movement as simple as that which released it. This not only does away with the injurious warping strain and abolishes the unsightly weight or wedge heretofore employed, which are liable to be kicked about and lost when not in use or be accidentally displaced when in use,

but also supersedes any device which rigidly l holds the door open in any position and leaves 1 the door as free to be closed or opened as if i no check or closer was attached.

In the drawings forming a part of this specilication, Figure 1 is a plan view of the doorcloser on a closed door with the detent out ofoperation. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the dooreloser on a partly-opened door with the closing tension transferred from lever-arm E to the detent or tension-arrester 0, so that the door swings free within the limits of the angle at which the door stands. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the door-closer, showing the detentat the rear in dotted lines in operative position. Fig. 4: is a front view of the detent and related parts in elevated or operative position, the door closing and checking parts being cut off from view on seetion-lineii, Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a front view of the detent and related parts in depressed or inoperative position, the elevating-spring being held down by engagement with beveled lugf. Fig. 6 is a detail view of the pin-lug in the sectioned leverarm E, in which it is movably mounted. Fig. '7 is a vertical longitudinal section centrally through the liquid-chamber and spring-chamber, showing the spring s, the spindle C, and the retarding element in detail.

A is the liquid-chamber of a door-check of typical form in common use, constituting the dash-pot of the retarding element. B is the spring-chamber containing spring a, which is the closing element. C is the spindle which operates the retarding clement. D is the ratchetwheel secured to the spring for adjusting the tension of the latter. E the lever-arm seemed to the spindle, and F is the toggle-link connection of said lever-arm with the fixed frame Gr of the door G, through which the closure is effected by the reaction of the tension-spring. These parts being all of familiar construction and function need no minute description.

it is a pull-piece, which engages the ratchetwheel I) by a hook or lug at one end and the lever-arm E at its other end by means of the lug-pin I), being the intermediate connection 5 between the spring and the said lever-arm.

Said pull-piece is adjustable on said ratchetwheel, and the lug-pin I, with which it engages, is preferably provided with a journaled recess 6, as shown in Fig. 6, to make the engagement secure. Said lug-pin is also preferably movable upward in its socket in the l lever-arm E, although close fitting. This provision is made to facilitate the adjustment of pull-piece (4 upon the ratchet-wheel D when it is necessary to change the tension of the spring. The pull-piece a is prolonged at a for a purpose hereinafter mentioned.

0 is a ratcheted T-shaped gravity-detent located at the rear of the device rising and falling in a recess it, made therefor. It is elevated and sustained in its highest or operative position by a spring (Z or equivalent means and dropped by lowering thespring by pulling down the chain a, being held in the lower or inoperative position by a beveled lug f, which engages the spring (Z. Said spring (Z is fastened at one end to the face-plate p and extends across the stem of detent c beneath pin 70, fast on said detent, which the spring engages on its upward movement, and thereby lifts the detent.

g is a stop-pin to limit the downward range of the spring (Z.

d is a washer under the pull-piece a to relieve friction of the same on the cap of the spring-case.

n is a pin or stop on detent cto limit its upward throw under stress of the spring (Z, or the same function may be effected by the pin 71, as it encounters a portion of the springcase in front of it.

The operation is as follows: When the closer is in ordinary operative use, the detent 0 is held out of action by lowering the spring (Z, which, being caught by the inclined lug f, permits the gravity-detent 0 to seek and retain its lowest position out of action. When it is desired to have the door remain open at any angle, the spring (Z is released from its restraining-lugf, which allows it to raise the detent 0 into the path of the pull-piece a as the latter sweeps around, winding up the spring by the action of the lever-arm E on the pull-piece as the door is opened. TV hen the pull-piece a reaches the gravity-detent 0, it depresses the same by passing over the inclines of the ratchets 0', and its end a enters into engagement with the first of the said ratchets or notches formed in the top of the detent c. If the door is now released, it will be found that the tension of the spring 6 is taken off from lug-pin 6 and lever-arm E and transferred to detent 0, where it is held out of action, leaving the door free from any closing tendency or any rigidity of position. If it is desired to have the door remain open at a still greater angle, it is only necessary to continue its opening swing, when pull-piece (0 passes successively over the series of notches or ratchetsc' until it rests in the one located at the desired angle even if opened to the fullest extent. The door may now be closed and opened at pleasure without any closing tension being exerted upon it within the desired limits, the dash-pot, however, being still in fulloperation to obviate slamming, as before; but when it is desired to restore the self-closing means to operation it is only necessary to' pull down chain c and engage spring 'd with the lugf, when on opening the door sufliciently to reengage lug-pin b with pull-piece a and release the latter from its engagement with detent c said detent drops by its own gravity and the tension of the-spring is wholly transferred to lug-pin Z) and lever-arm E, as at first. The operation thus requires only two movements within the crudest capacity, one to release the detent-spring, thereby cutting off the door-closing function, so that the door may swing free to the extent desired, and the other to depress said spring, thereby restoring the door-closing function.

The door-closer shown in the drawings is for a right-hand door; but the same parts may be used for a left-hand door by reversing the spring and pull-piece and substituting a detent of opposite curvature, which is supplied.

I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a door, check and closer, a closingspring, a retarding element, a spindle operating said retarding element, a lever-arm and link for connecting said spindle to the frame of the door to be operated, a device for engagement and disengagement between said closing-spring and said lever-arm, and means to engage said device whereby the spring is held out of engagement with the lever-arm at will, and the door rendered closable by the operation of the closing-spring or released from the tension thereof to swing free, substantially as specified.

2. In a door check and closer, a closingspring, a retarding element, a spindle operating said retarding element, a lever-arm and link for connecting said spindle to the frame of the door to be operated, a means of en gagement and disengagement between said closing-spring and said lever-arm, and a movable detent to take the tension of the spring from said lever-arm at will, and hold said spring out of engagement with the lever-arm until released from the detent, whereby the door may swing free when disengaged and be closed by the operation of the spring when engaged, substantially as specified.

3. In a door check and closer, a closingspring, a retarding element, a spindle operating said retarding element, a lever-arm and link for connecting said spindle to the frame of the door to be operated, an adjustable pullpiece between said closing-spring and said lever-arm, means of engagement and disengagement between said pull-piece and said leverarm, a movable ratcheted detent for engagement with said pull-piece on its disengagement from said lever-arm, thereby transferring the spring tension from the movable lever-arm to a fixed point on the door, and means for operating said detent at will, whereby the door may swing free or be closed by the closing-spring, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

AXEL FREDERICK EN QUIST.

Witnesses:

HENRY H. BATES, EDWIN S. CLARKSON. 

